The Mandate of the Ombudsman from the Republic of Moldova and Italy in the Investigation of Claims against Public and Private Entities

One of the essential and traditional powers of the People's Advocate is to examine requests or claims against decisions of public authorities or private entities that contain allegations of abuse or violation of fundamental human rights and freedoms. The national legislation of the Republic of Moldova mandates the Ombudsman with extensive powers to ensure respect for human rights and freedoms by public authorities, by organizations and enterprises, regardless of the type of ownership and legal form of organization, and by persons with positions of responsibility at all levels. In Italy, however, there is no national law regulating the institution of the National People’s Advocate. Instead, there are regional ombudsmen in more than 18 Italian regions or autonomous provinces. They represent sui generis independent administrative authorities, with broad prerogatives of autonomy and independence from political leaders and with para-jurisdictional functions to protect the rights and interests of citizens. In this paper, the authors set out to conduct primary research on comparative aspects concerning the powers of the People’s Advocates of the Republic of Italy and the Republic of Moldova in the field of investigating claims. The paper does not claim to be perfect, but rather a premise for further multifaceted research.